


But it Just LOOKS Terrible!

by Madamoiselle_Miraculous (Sweet_Spice_Sour_Sugar)



Series: Miraculous Requests [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Art, Comfort, Drawing, F/M, nathanette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-05
Updated: 2016-03-05
Packaged: 2018-05-24 23:04:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6170191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sweet_Spice_Sour_Sugar/pseuds/Madamoiselle_Miraculous
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nathanaël is unhappy because a drawing of his didn't turn out well, and Marinette doesn't like to see her friends sad.</p>
            </blockquote>





	But it Just LOOKS Terrible!

**Author's Note:**

  * For [TasteTheFrosting](https://archiveofourown.org/users/TasteTheFrosting/gifts).



> This was requested by tastethefrosting.tumblr.com! It was actually quite fun to write.

When the drawing had been finished, Nathanaël thought it may have been the best drawing he had ever done in his entire artistic career. Yet the longer he sat there and looked at it, the longer he examined the pencil marks and the erased lines, the more he grew to hate it. At first, it started with the notice of the indents left by pencil marks he had erased, then he began to see all the flaws with his work. And it annoyed him _immensely._

Nathanaël had managed to draw something he thought he liked. It was one of his own original characters, a girl with coal-black hair and stunning blue eyes. In the drawing, she was sitting in a chair, wearing the prettiest dress he had ever drawn (it looked like one of those dresses all those girls in 1950s and 1960s USA wore) and the shading fell across half of her face. It made her look like she had sat down for a portrait it had taken hours to paint. At first, she was lovely, but now that he looked closer, there were so many… Imperfections.

First off, her face didn’t have the right proportions. Her eyes seemed too big and her lips too thin. Her hair didn’t fall right over her shoulders and forehead, and the smile he drew seemed forced. He wanted her to look genuinely happy! Secondly, her hands were way too big. They needed to be smaller, with thinner fingers and they needed to be held one over the other, not side by side on her lap. Why on Earth did she simply not match up with the image in his head? Why couldn’t she look more like--

“Hey, Nath!” Marinette stood before him, on the other side of the desk. As she was leaving class, she noticed one of her friends still hadn’t left yet, and he seemed to be staring intently at whatever was on the sheet of paper in front of him. It was highly unusual, to say in the least. Generally, she was sure Nathanaël would be the first out of the classroom and off to wherever it is he hangs out, but instead he was just sitting here. His hands held up his forehead and his elbows were on the desk, either side of the paper. He looked like he was about to tear his hair out.

When he didn’t respond, she slid into the seat next to him and nudged him gently with an elbow. The sharp intake of air he made when she did sounded like he took all the air from the room. His sea-green eyes were blown wide, and he acted like he was ready to take off running. She didn’t want to scare her friend at all! She leaned back and held her hands up as if to show she wasn’t going to hurt him, and slid along the bench to put a little distance between them.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.” She laughed it off as if it were just a silly mistake, but really. Deep down she felt bad to the core. He already got a hard time from Chloe (and even compared Marinette to her once) and he probably didn’t need her giving him a heart attack. “I just wanted to know if you were okay? Did you get a bad test score?”

She could see him forcefully swallow whatever shock that was still around, but he was still silent for a few moments. As if gathering any bearings, he pushed his bangs up and glanced around the classroom, wide-eyed and surprised. Who would have thought that Nathanaël kind of looked _better_ with his bangs out of the way? Marinette smiled sweetly at him, and she scooted closer, but not too close. Now that he had somehow moved out of the way of the paper, it was free for her to grab.

Nathanaël seemed to realise this, because he immediately tried to snatch it from the table, but Marinette got to it first. She straightened it out and examined it. A small smile formed on her lips. Nathanaël seemed like he was going to have another heart attack. “Wow! This is pretty! Did you draw this, Nath? It’s so good.”

When she glanced over at him, he didn’t seem to agree. He shook his head madly, and reached forward to take the drawing back. “It… It’s really not.” He whispered in hushed tones. “It’s so bad. I wish I hadn’t drawn it now.”

“Why?” She asked curiously, then she looked down at the paper again. She traced the lines with her fingers lovingly. Somehow, the girl looked a little familiar. “I think she’s very pretty. I like the way you’ve drawn her hair. You should colour it in.”

“Oh, no. I’m terrible at colouring. I only do lineart anyway.” His voice barely rose above a whisper, but he sounded breathless. Marinette hoped he was okay. 

“Well, point out what’s so wrong with it, then.” She told him, putting the paper back on the desk and scooting forward to look over it. “Maybe I can help.” As the Class President, Marinette was sure she could be able to help her friends as much as she could. Even with little things like this.

“Ah, okay.” He leaned over the paper and got out his pencil. Carefully, he pointed to each detail, explaining what was so wrong.

In Nathanaël’s mind, he found it a little harder to pick out what was wrong with his drawing. Was it the girl? Was it the dress? Those horrible marks left behind by his eraser? Maybe he simply needed to get a new eraser. But sitting next to him was Marinette. The girl he had drawn over a thousand times just so he could get every single curve, gesture, smile correct. The girl he had fallen head over heels in love. She was basically his muse.

He took a deep breath and pointed to the hands of the girl in the picture. “Well, her hands are too big, her hands too long. I don’t know why I drew them that way. And they should be sitting on top of each other, not side by side.” Nathanaël risked a glance at Marinette, who was focusing intently on the drawing and the mistakes he pointed out. He thought it was strange that she had thought the girl looked familiar. She was an original character after all!

“And then there are faint pencil lines that haven’t been completely erased.” He sighed, pointing them out gently. “I was sure they were gone.” Yet there they were, sneering up at him from the page. Taunting the poor artist. Next, he moved up to her face. “And look at her eyes! They’re too big, that’s not even normal. Her smile looks too forced as well, but I don’t know how I’m going to remedy that.” He didn’t even have a reference for this character. She was simply from his mind. Sort of.

“You see, she simply isn’t perfect. I don’t understand why she can’t be more like--” He cut himself off abruptly, not really wanting to tell Marinette that he thought the character he had drawn should look more like her. 

When he was finished, Marinette was silent for a moment. “Well, I can’t do much about the pencil lines, but the hands and the smile I think I can help with.” Of course, she had noticed the similarity. Nathanaël seemed to have accidentally drawn her, but she didn’t want to tell him that. He would be more embarrassed than he already was. “If you like, I can be a reference for you. We can go to the park, and I’ll sit somewhere in the position you want to redraw your character, and we’ll see how it goes from there!” Here she was, to the rescue, always ready to help her friend. “I don’t want to see you despair over this picture any more! I honestly believe it’s the best life drawing I’ve ever seen, and I want to help you.”

This was a very big offer, and Nathanaël was a little shocked. The blood drained from his face, he became paler when he realised he had to somehow explain to the loveliest girl in the world that he already knew how to draw her, and that he could draw her well. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was squealing happily. Marinette said his drawing was the best she had seen.

“You really like it?” He asked curiously. “Even with the flaws?” 

“The flaws are what make it better.” Marinette assured him. “Not everyone is perfect.” Even she didn’t believe she was perfect. Nathanaël would tell her otherwise.

He went silent. She was right. Perfect, sweet, lovely Marinette was right. No one was perfect, so why should his drawing try and reach it? “Thank you, Marinette.”

The corners of her eyes crinkled when she smiled, and Nathanaël had a moment of realisation. That was the smile the girl should have. He pulled out his pencil and eraser, and gently erased the girl’s face. “Marinette?” He asked cautiously.

“Hm?” Her smile faded and she simply looked curious again. “What is it, Nath?”

He seemed embarrassed, his eyes didn’t fall on her face and he looked off into the distance. “Do you mind smiling like that again? I think that’s the kind of smile she needs.”

Marinette laughed cheerfully, and obliged. Nathanaël’s lips curled up into a small grin, and he started sketching carefully. When he was finished, the girl in the picture actually looked perfect. He was grateful for his muse.

**Author's Note:**

> Please send me some more requests at mini-megido.tumblr.com.


End file.
